Rethinking Linkage To The West: What Authoritarian Stability In Singapore Tells Us
Recent regime change literatures compellingly assert that linkage to the West has been a significant factor in democratisation where the organisational capacity of authoritarian incumbents has overwhelmingly weakened pro-democracy forces. Detailed case studies confirming these findings have not...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press)
2016
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| Online Access: | http://eprints.usm.my/40903/ http://eprints.usm.my/40903/1/Art1.pdf |
| Summary: | Recent regime change literatures compellingly assert that linkage to the
West has been a significant factor in democratisation where the
organisational capacity of authoritarian incumbents has overwhelmingly
weakened pro-democracy forces. Detailed case studies confirming these
findings have not included Singapore although high levels of linkage to the
West suggest that democratisation should have taken place there. This
qualitative case study fills the empirical and theoretical gap by explaining
why linkage has so far failed to raise the cost of authoritarianism for
Singapore's government. By eschewing the current structural approach,
which conceptualises linkage as mere channels of external pressure or
influence, this analysis treats each dimension of linkage as arenas of
political interaction where external democratising pressure or influence are
generated, mediated or precluded. This agency-centred approach exposes
the politics of linkage and thereby enables us to explain why linkage to the
West does not always have the expected impact on regime change. These
findings open up the research agenda of regime change studies by pointing
the way forward for future studies of otherwise inexplicable cases where
high linkage has not led to democratisation. |
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